Archive for the ‘mclaren’ Category

Lewis Hamilton is a queer-queer character. One day he makes a provocative and stupid statement and the next day his super large PR team is out to make him look like a good boy. Some Brits found it fascinating , I find it highly arrogant, but hey I am not British , so who am I to judge Lewis Hamilton and his comments on an Italian team’s former world champion who is German.

I don’t know what it is with the British Press which covers motorsport and formula one. The fact that no British driver could ever get close to the kind of legacy Michael Schumacher has kind of breeds a little discontent and the British media take advantage of this and start mudslinging on Michael Schumacher in the hopes of selling more copies of their newspaper or more hits on their website. And if websites are any indicators of British consumer behaviour, boy do they pounce on any anti Michael Schumacher post.

I find the British press highly motivated to protect McLaren and Lewis Hamilton at all costs and highly biased in anything to do with Ferrari, Alonso and Michael Schumacher. I remember during the spygate saga when I had a few posts criticizing McLaren, I received tons of hate mail quoting British dailies and tabloid which swore how McLaren was the victim in the whole incident.

I would like to add here, I have absolutely no problem with British folk, this swipe is intended at the British media only.

Coming back to Lewis Hamilton though, in an Interview to a news agency, Lewis Hamilton was quoted as saying :

“I want to be remembered as a fair driver as a clean driver and one that always drove with my heart and battled through thick and thin to score the points and the championships I will hopefully earn by then”

“For me, when I think about the history it is not just about me, it is about how my family raised me, and where we came from.

“For that to be potentially tainted by something like that (Michael Schumacher’s Monaco controversy) would be really devastating for me. That is definitely something I don’t want to be remembered for.”

How my family raised me , where we came from ? I really hope he is not playing the other kind of race card (The race not related to formula one). There is lots more in quotes from where that came from.

He often makes this attempt of projecting himself as a nice person a nice guy, but we all know the truth. His comments about his team principal (who literally raised him) or his teammates (we know about the Alonso controversy).

Anyway, coming back to Lewis Hamilton’s contention that he doesn’t want a legacy like Michael Schumacher, a little reality check, you can never get that kind of legacy, because you simply aren’t as good. Period.

Update: Michael Schumacher was third fastest in the second practice session also behind the Red Bulls.

In what is good news for formula one and Michael Schumacher fans all around the world, the German seemed to be on pace in the practice session of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. We have been following this story all week right from the press stories against Michael Schumacher to the Mercedes GP change of the chassis of Michael Schumacher’s car in order to make the car more suitable for him. But the joy could be shortlived as teams could be testing different experimental combinations before the actual race.

Lewis Hamilton was fastest during the session while Jenson Button was second fastest in the session. Mark Webber for the Red Bull team was fourth ahead of his teammate Sebastien Vettel. Nico Rosberg, Michael Schumacher’s teammate was sixth in the practice session.

Fernando Alonso was eighth in the session while teammate Felipe Massa was twelfth in the other Ferrari car.

Jenson Button catapulted himself to first place in the formula one driver’s championship with an incredible drive and 1st place at the Chinese Grand Prix. Jenson Button now leads the championship table with 60 points. Teammate and fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton took second place at the Chinese Grand Prix to make it a McLaren 1-2.

Lewis Hamilton had his brush with the wrong side of the F1 law when he almost took out Sebastien Vettel in the pits. He later blamed the incident on painted advertisements on the tarmac which reduce grip. It was another matter that to remain wheel to wheel with Vettel he actually was on the wrong side of the driveway. They briefly touched wheels and Hamilton again came into focus for dangerous driving that is becoming his trademark. Sebastien Vettel of the Red Bull team did not mince words while blaming Lewis Hamilton :

“At the stop I was ahead. I don’t know why he pulled to the left and was keen to touch me,” Sebastien Vettel said.

“His front wing was at my rear wheel. I hoped I didn’t get a puncture from that .I don’t really understand why he did that as I was a bit ahead of him and had the advantage. He didn’t have to make contact.” The German added

Jenson Button had a less eventful race by comparison, only looking uncomfortable once when he lost the grip at the hairpin of turn 6 as a result of aquaplaning. Jenson Button called the victory special after the race showing his mastery of the wet track and good judgement in choosing the right tyres.

“This is so special,” Jenson Button said.

“For me it is my best victory. Every time that you win I think it becomes your best victory, but this one was very special as it was very tough conditions. I had a job keeping it on the road at the end and the great thing is our pace was good. It wasn’t just the luck of calling the weather.” he added

Nico Rosberg finished third for the Mercedes GP team while teammate Michael Schumacher again struggled and finished 10th. Adrian Sutil had a decent race in his Force India car finishing 11th.

The Ferrari team had a mixed race with Fernando Alonso finishing 4th and teammate Felipe Massa finishing a dismal but still points earning 9th.

Defending formula one champion Jenson Button of the McLaren formula one team clocked the fastest time in the opening practice session for the formula one Chinese Grand Prix. His teammate (Brit again :P) Lewis Hamilton also clocked a super time to be P2 in the practice session.

Nico Rosberg of the Mercedes GP team was third in the practive session while teammate and veteran Michael Schumacher who is looking to redeem himself at the Chinese Grand Prix was fourth. Sebastien Vettel for the Red Bull team was the fifth fastest during the session.

The biggest news of the circuit during the session was Sebastien Buemi’s crash in which both of his wheels seemed to fly off as he braked. The suspension on his car seemed to have broken and in some of the photos one can see extensive damage to tyres done on his car. Buemi thankfully escaped unhurt and was seen gesticulating to his team engineers. Scuderia Torro Rosso later gave a clarifying statement about the crash that read :

“Sebastien Buemi’s incident in FP1 was caused by the failure of the front-right upright “

Ferrari was ok in the practice but reliability woes hit them again. Fernando Alonso suffered an engine failure with smoke and fire coming out of the rear of his Ferrari 2010 challenger. At the hairpin of turn 6 Fernando Alonso’s car suffered this breakdown. Ferrari are going through their engines very fast with a limited number of engines allowed in the season and later on might have to deal with extra engine penalties.

Felipe Massa thankfully did not suffer an engine failure and was 10th fastest. Force India continued their good run with Adrian Sutil finishing the session 9th fastest ahead of Felipe Massa’s Ferrari. Force India also had some beautiful photos of the track (and their sponsors in the side profile ) :